The final hours of the American Medical Association’s annual meeting in Chicago were busy, as its delegates adopted new policies on a variety of topics, including several aimed at slowing down the rise in opioid addiction.

A federal judge said June 14 Chicago-area Advocate Health Care and NorthShore University HealthSystem can merge, despite a formal complaint from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) late last year and opposition from Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan.

The American Medical Association’s delegates have passed a resolution labeling gun violence as “a public health crisis,” promising to lobby Congress to end a 20-year-old ban on federally funded gun violence research.

In a speech at the American Medical Association’s annual meeting in Chicago, CMS Acting Administrator Andy Slavitt emphasized the agency is dedicated to working with physicians on the proposed rule implementing the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA), especially to address worries about its effect on smaller practices.

A new proposed rule from CMS would make antibiotic stewardship programs mandatory for Medicare and Medicaid hospitals, along with changes in anti-discrimination policies, nursing requirements, readmissions information and patient nutrition standards.

The Affordable Care Act has helped Americans living in rural areas get better access to more affordable care, HHS said.

The Food and Drug Administration’s decades-old rule preventing gay men from donating blood is being targeted by Democratic members of Congress in the wake of the deadly shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando that left 49 people dead and another 53 injured.

Rather than focusing on efforts to repeal or defund portions of the Affordable Care Act, House Republicans discussed five pieces of legislation aiming to make smaller changes to the law at a congressional hearing June 10